Self Preservation
by Chima
Summary: Fighting Kisame wasn't like fighting anyone else Gai had ever known.


A fist tangling in blue hair to slam his face into a tree, the wood caving from the force. The massive sword comes around and the attacker leaps up, driving his feet into the black-cloaked man's back to drive him backward and away from the scaled blade's arc. The swordsman is crushed against the tree from the power behind the kick and the other man flies back twenty feet to land against another tree.

Fangs staind with blood are bared in a grin as the swordsman pushes himself away from the half-destroyed tree and stares across the space between he and the green-clad warrior. A pale blue hand comes up to wipe the violet blood from his chin automatically; he glances down at his hand for a moment and then slips his hand back around the hilt of Samehada like a man taking hold of his lover's hand.

"We can go at this all day, _Moujuu_." He spits off to the side as if the word offends him, saliva tainted violet. "Or you could just give up and let me on my way. I promise not to dismember you if you just shut up and stop fighting."

The other man doesn't answer, instead disappearing from where he crouched against the tree. An instant later Kisame's head is snapped to the side by a sandaled foot crashing into his cheek and thrown against the tree again by another to his chest. The massive sword slips from Kisame's grip as a vicious uppercut pulls him off the ground, throwing him back several feet.

Gai steps into a fighting stance as Kisame hits the ground. "I could never let a murderer like you run free." He twitched his head in a 'come here' gesture. "Get up. I refuse to fight a man on the ground."

Kisame pushes himself up into a crouch, one hand on his knee and the other dragging lazily on the ground. He chuckles as he undoes his cloak, letting it fall to the ground behind him. He cracks his knuckles with a grin and an instant later is right in Gai's face, a fist driving into the dark-haired man's gut. Fists met flesh as they spun in and out of one another's guard, taking and dealing blows with such speed that their bodies registered the pain of a hit long after it had actually occurred. Their hands met, gripping each other until blood trickled from between their fingers.

Gai let chakra build up inside of him, forcing it through pathways that it burns as it rushes through. It's slamming against a wall inside him, building up, he can feel the wall crumbling, can feel the power behind the wall leaking out --

And then his chakra is gone, snuffed out like a candle in a strong breeze. He gasps in shock, his lungs burning as his eyes snap open. He's breathing too fast, hyperventilating - his body automatically preparing itself for the shock of power that releasing a gate brings, only for the power to be stolen away.

His eyes dart to the side for an instant to see Kisame's sword only a few feet away, blade buried a quarter of the way into the ground. It looks like it's _moving_ under its wraps, and Kisame laughs out loud. Rather than try to force him back, though, Kisame pulls Gai toward him and twists so that his shoulder digs into Gai's chest as he throws him. The cloth covering Gai's torso rips from the rough skin grinding against it and then he's slammed into the ground; he writhes from Kisame's grip and scrambls through the loam away from him, but Kisame is after him in a flash. Gai's leg snaps up and catches Kisame in the side to throw him away; Kisame stops himself with a palm against a tree, fingers digging deep into the bark. His other hand grips the hem of Gai's chuunin vest, which he'd ripped off sometime in his last attack.

"Not bad, Moujuu." Gai watched him carefully and stood, flexing knuckles that bled freely. Kisame dropped to the vest to the ground. "Not bad at all. But a lowly beast can't stand up to a bakemono." Then they were rushing at one another again. A moment later Gai understood why Kisame had taken his vest; now there was almost no protection from the man's rough skin. Gai's every movement was practiced and trained to an science; Kisame had probably never actually trained in taijutsu a day in his life. He didn't fight, he _brawled_ - fists flying with enough force to almost throw him off balance, legs barely coming into play except to keep him upright. But his body naturally gave him an edge, his size and mass giving his blows force and his skin giving him both a weapon and armor. Every hit that landed on Gai's body drew blood, and every time one of Gai's fists met Kisame's skin he lost a little more skin from his knuckles.

Fighting Kisame wasn't like fighting anyone he'd ever known. Instead of falling into the rhythm of hit, block, and dodge Gai was constantly on his toes - his mind spinning for a way to attack without damaging himself in the process. But every time he let his thoughts wander from his movements he would find a fist grinding into his body.

"Come on, where's that confidence you had earlier? Or that first time, when you were protecting that idiot with the stolen eye from Itachi?" Gai's foot came up in a crescent kick that would have taken Kisame's head off his shoulders, but the blue-skinned man caught it with one hand and twisted to swing Gai through the air and slam him into the ground. Gai took the hit with barely a wince, his other foot shooting out to smash into Kisame's cheek.

Kisame growled in pain but refused to let go, trying to grab hold of Gai's free foot as it lashed out again and caught him in the chin. He swung Gai around suddenly, slamming him into a tree, and stars exploded across Gai's vision. Kisame was laughing now as he smashed Gai into the ground, a boulder, trees; his nose was all but crushed under the constant hits from Gai's free foot, but he was grinning through the blood.

Finally, he dropped Gai to the ground. A swift twitch of his fingers realigned his nose somewhat, but he did nothing to stem the flow of blood apart from swiping his tongue through it. Gai was all but unconscious, still struggling to stand despite the trauma to his body, as Kisame knelt over him. He instinctively shied away from the shark but Kisame grabbed him by the jaw, forcing him to look at him. "How does it feel to lose, Moujuu? From the way I heard, you've never lost to anyone except in those petty games you and the eye thief play. So what's it feel like?" He knelt down farther to whisper in Gai's ear, "Are you ready to die?"


End file.
